1. Field of the Invention
The present invention encompasses a building component used to make insulated concrete forms and, more particularly, to a system that can be used to make cast-in-place walls using two opposed side panels or tilt-up walls using a single side panel.
2. Background Art
Concrete walls in building construction are most often produced by first setting up two parallel form walls and pouring concrete into the space between the forms. After the concrete hardens, the builder then removes the forms, leaving the cured concrete wall.
This prior art technique has drawbacks. Formation of the concrete walls is inefficient because of the time required to erect the forms, wait until the concrete cures, and take down the forms. This prior art technique, therefore, is an expensive, labor-intensive process.
Accordingly, techniques have developed for forming modular concrete walls, which use a foam insulating material. The modular form walls are set up parallel to each other and connecting components hold the two form walls in place relative to each other while concrete is poured therebetween. The form walls, however, remain in place after the concrete cures. That is, the form walls, which are constructed of foam insulating material, are a permanent part of the building after the concrete cures. The concrete walls made using this technique can be stacked on top of each other many stories high to form all of a building's walls. In addition to the efficiency gained by retaining the form walls as part of the permanent structure, the materials of the form walls often provide adequate insulation for the building.
Although the prior art includes many proposed variations to achieve improvements with this technique, drawbacks still exist for each design. The connecting components used in the prior art to hold the walls are constructed of (1) plastic foam, (2) high density plastic, or (3) a metal bridge, which is a non-structural support, i.e., once the concrete cures, the connecting components serve no function. Also, these procedures also cannot be used to make floors or roof panels.
One embodiment of a connecting component is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,459, which issued to Mensen on Feb. 21, 1995 and which is incorporated herein by reference. This patent discloses "bridging members" that comprise end plates connected by a plurality of web members. The bridging members also use reinforcing ribs, reinforcing webs, reinforcing members extending from the upper edge of the web member to the top side of the end plates, and reinforcing members extending from the lower edge of the web member to the bottom side of the end plates. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, this support system is expensive to construct, which increases the cost of the formed wall.